my citrus crush

i rarely bake because that usually involves following a recipe since i'm not experienced enough to make my own, and as i've already mentioned, i'm usually not patient or organized enough for that. but unlike cooking (where you can get away with so many shortcuts), baking is a more specific science and understanding what things do and how they react with each other is pretty crucial to getting good results. even so, i usually can't help but experiment just a little ...

i created this lemon-lime poppy seed loaf to bring to my friend sarah's place. she made me a lovely meal and i wanted to share something sweet with her. i modified and combined two recipies i had and used whatever i had on hand (which meant some shortcuts and substitutions). to my and sarah's great surprise, the results were really delicious: a moist, citrusy cake with just a little crunch and lovely black speckles... and for the bonus prize - its pretty healthy! and can be vegan!


for the cake/loaf

1.5 cups spelt flour (sifted)
1.5t baking powder
0.5t salt
0.25 cups poppy seeds
6oz yogurt (or soy yogurt)
0.3 cups oil
0.5 cups sugar (i used brown)
0.25 cups freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice (about 1 lemon and 1 lime)
3-4t lemon and lime zest
1t vanilla extract

for citrus syrup

0.3 cup lemon or lime juice (or mixed)
2-3T sugar

mix the yogurt, oil, sugar together, add the juice, zest and vanilla. mix well.
sift the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder) together and add the poppy seeds. add the dry into the wet and mix to combine.
transfer into a greased loaf pan or a spring form pan, bake at 350F for about 35min or until toothpick comes out clean.

while the cake is cooling, in a small sauce pan heat bring the lemon/lime juice and sugar to a boil while stirring, reduce the heat and simmer for a couple of minutes. take of the heat and let cool. when both the cake and the syrup have cooled, pour the syrup over the cake. before you do so, you can decorated the cake with slivered almonds, slices of candied lemon or lime or pretty swirls of lemon rind. i only thought of that after words....

tips: note, i used a full loaf pan and it made a short/thin cake; a demi-loaf pan would probably be more appropriate for this recipe. or you can double the ingredients ... but remember to increase the baking time if you do that.

so, i did double the recipe and increased the baking time by about 10-15min - still delicious.